A glossary of coronaspeak

1. Discuss the questions.

• How has your life changed because of the coronavirus pandemic?
• Do you know any new words that have been coined or gained popularity
during the pandemic (in your language or English)?

2. Look at the headings in the table and guess what the BCV and ACV
acronyms mean. BCV = before coronavirus, ACV = after coronavirus
BCV
• A handshake was a common
greeting used by people around the
world.
• We worked closely and were using
Skype for remote meetings.
• Going to school for kids as well as
for teachers was unquestionable.
• For a lot of people, Friday night
started with choosing an outfit for
the evening.
• People worked and earned money
for travelling and spending holidays
away from home.
• The tourism industry was thriving,
with some destinations
overwhelmed with tourists.
ACV
a) Now, even political leaders greet
each other with a fist bump or an
elbow bump.
b) Most meetings are held online and
we are all Zooming now rather than
Skyping.
c) As kids learn remotely, parents are
lured by hotels and the opportunity
of schoolcation.
d) Everyone is excited to wear their
new infits and watch Netflix all
night long.
e) If you work remotely and can’t go
to your office, you can become a
half-tourist, travelling to a different
country and working from there.
f) The hotel and tourism industry
hope for a wave of revenge travel
in the future – people travelling
more than usual as a reaction to
the time they couldn’t do it.

3. Now, complete the gaps in ex. 2 with one word each.

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 A glossary of coronaspeak

4. Discuss the questions.

• How do you greet people now, instead of
shaking hands?
• Do you Zoom or Skype people?
• What’s your favourite ‘infit’? Do you miss
going out?
• If you had the chance, would you become
a ‘half-tourist’?
• What do you think about the idea of ‘schoolcation’?
• Do you think that ‘revenge travel’ will become a thing and some people will
travel more than in the past when they are finally able to do so?
5. Study the example. Work in pairs and figure out which words they are
derived from.
EXAMPLE:
QUARANTINI = quarantine + Martini: a cocktail drunk during lockdown
Interesting fact: “A quarantini might seem inextricably-linked to the Coronavirus
zeitgeist, but in fact the word itself made its first appearance 15 years ago, in an
episode of US medical comedy series Scrubs. Character Danni Sullivan asks,
‘Quarantinis anyone?’ during lockdown of the intensive care unit because of a
potential SARS threat.” Source: https://www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/quarantini.html

a) zumping = Zoom + dump : breaking up with someone over Zoom

b) lockstalgia = lockdown + nostalgia : nostalgia for a time when the country

was in lockdown

c) covidiot = COVID + idiot : a person who annoys others by refusing

to obey the social distancing rules
designed to prevent the spread of
COVID-19

d) quarantime = quarantine + time : when the days blend together because

you stay at home a lot due to the
pandemic

e) spendemic = spend + pandemic : an increase in online shopping during

the pandemic

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 A glossary of coronaspeak

6. Read the words in ex. 5 again and guess what they mean.

7. Look at the words below and guess how they combine.

a) Zoomwear = Zoom + wear: clothes suitable for the office above the waist and
casual clothing below the waist
b) infodemic = information + epidemic: the spread of incorrect information,
especially online, about something, e.g. a disease
c) coronial = coronavirus + millennial: a child conceived or born during the
COVID-19 pandemic
d) maskne = mask + acne: acne caused by wearing a face mask that wraps
tightly around the face for a long time

8. Discuss the questions.

• Have you observed ‘infodemic’, ‘spendemic’ or any other new phenomena
during the pandemic?
• Do you think you will ever feel ‘lockstalgia’?
• What activities have a lot of people turned to during lockdowns?
• Do you work from home now? What dress code do you have to follow? How
often do you choose ‘Zoomwear’?
• In your opinion, will our lives ever be the same as BCV? Why/Why not?

9. HOMEWORK. Do some online research and find five more words or phrases
that have been coined or gained popularity during the pandemic. Write
sentences with them.
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Copyrights by ESL Brains